THE owner of a Southampton petrol station raided by police in a probe into alleged card cloning says he has nothing to do with any alleged scam.

Navaratnam Nadan, who owns the Shell petrol garage in Portsmouth Road, Woolston, said he contacted police the day before the garage was raided to alert them of a possible problem brought to his attention by a customer.

Speaking to the Daily Echo less than 24 hours after the police raid, Mr Nadan said his business has already started to suffer with a loss of customers and someone had thrown a brick through the window of the shop.

As exclusively revealed, police raided the premises on Friday night after more than 80 people reported losing hundreds of pounds from their accounts from as far away as Malaysia and Australia. A neighbouring house was also searched.

Mr Nadan was one of five people arrested by police and released on bail as part of the investigation.

He said: "I am happy the police have come here because I want to show people that there is no problem with the shop.

"I am sorry to hear that members of the public have been caught up in a problem and we are trying to get to the bottom of it.

"I want people to know they can use their cards and shop here safely," Mr Nadan added.

"We don't know anything about a card cloning scam and want to help anyone we can in getting to the bottom of it."

Mr Nadan said he has had a lot of people visit the garage and tell them that they have also been victims of the alleged fraud who had never used cards in the petrol station.

"I am keeping a list of people and I am happy to work with the police," he said.

Mr Nadan also has a letter from a local NatWest Bank which he is passing on to customers that says the bank has investigated claims of card cloning at the garage and they have found no evidence to back up the allegations.

In the letter, Woolston branch manager Ian Arnold states: "I want to take this opportunity to confirm that there is no evidence to support this allegation and that NatWest Bank are keen to endorse to all its customers that it is perfectly safe to complete card transactions in our local area."

The Daily Echo has been inundated with comments from readers who have also been hit by the card scam which could have cost thousands of pounds to hundreds of people.

In one case five members of the same family fell victim to the alleged fraud and it is thought many other people could have been scammed but they have not yet checked their bank statements.

Detectives believe the alleged scam is linked to a number of reported incidents around Britain but insist the Woolston garage is the only one being investigated as part of Operation Linwood.

More than 15 officers took part in the raid on the garage and five people were arrested on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation.